Physical Geography
Study Guide Questions
Course Introduction
Physical Geography provides an in-depth exploration of the natural processes and features that shape the Earth's surface. The course examines fundamental concepts such as weather and climate systems, landforms, soils, vegetation patterns, hydrology, and biogeography. Through the study of both global and regional phenomena, students gain an understanding of how physical forces including plate tectonics, erosion, and atmospheric processes influence landscapes and ecosystems. Emphasis is placed on the interactions between the physical environment and human activities, fostering an appreciation for the complexity and interconnectedness of Earth's systems.
Recommended Textbook
Elemental Geosystems 6th Edition by Robert W. Christopherson
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Chapter 1: Foundations of Geography
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Sample Questions
Q1) Global Positioning System (GPS) units
A) recently found the correct height of Mount Everest to be 8850 m (29,035 feet.)
B) show your location accurate to 100 m.
C) are used in Precision Agriculture.
D) are used by surveyors and the military.
E) are used for all of these.
Answer: E
Q2) Which of the following best describes the current emphasis in the field of physical geography?
A) understanding soil development
B) modeling economic interrelationships among countries
C) studying weather
D) understanding how Earth's systems interact to produce natural phenomena
Answer: D
Q3) Longitude measures distances east or west of a prime meridian on Earth's surface.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 2: Solar Energy, Seasons, and the Atmosphere
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Sample Questions
Q1) Oxygen (O ) is
A) a gas that principally originates from volcanic sources.
B) a by-product of plant-leaf operations that are stimulated by light.
C) one of the gases from Earth's earliest atmospheres.
D) now measured at 78.084 percent by volume in the homosphere.
Answer: B
Q2) Temperature inversions occur
A) when surface temperatures are higher than overlying layers of air.
B) when there is good air drainage and ventilation of the surface air.
C) when surface temperatures are lower than warmer overlying air.
D) during episodes of reduced air pollution.
Answer: C
Q3) Sources of natural variable gases and materials include all of the following except A) volcanoes.
B) forest fires.
C) plants and decaying plants.
D) industrial activity.
Answer: D
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Chapter 3: Atmospheric Energy and Global Temperatures
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is false?
A) Urbanized surfaces tend to be sealed.
B) Urban surfaces have lower albedos and higher NET R values.
C) The amount of human-produced heat is not significant in New York City.
D) A city responds much as a desert surface during and after a rainstorm.
Answer: C
Q2) The effect of wind and temperature on the human skin is called the A) heat index.
B) sensible heat measurement.
C) wind chill factor.
D) apparent temperature index.
Answer: C
Q3) The temperature control that includes the heat capacity of a substance is A) movement.
B) evaporation.
C) cloud cover.
D) specific heat.
Answer: D
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Chapter 4: Atmospheric and Oceanic Circulation
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following describes the \(\underline { \text { Coriolis force } }\)?
A) It drives air from areas of higher to lower barometric pressure.
B) It decreases with height above the surface.
C) It causes the apparent deflection of winds from a straight path.
D) It is the only force acting on flows of air in the upper troposphere.
Q2) Ocean currents play a relatively small role in regulating climate.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The deflection produced by the Coriolis force is caused by
A) the fact that Earth's rotation decreases in speed toward the poles.
B) differing pressure gradients.
C) forces that affect winds but not ocean currents.
D) air temperature.
E) the fact that Earth revolves.
Q4) An understanding of atmospheric air circulation was an impetus for the development of a nuclear test ban treaty for above-ground explosions.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 5: Atmospheric Water and Weather
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is incorrectly matched?
A) fog - a stratus cloud that is high in elevation off the ground
B) cP - coldest weather conditions in the Midwest
C) precipitation - rain, sleet, snow, hail
D) cloud droplets - condensation nuclei and water
Q2) The general term that refers to the tendency of a parcel of air to either remain in place or change its initial position is ________.
A) adiabatic
B) stability
C) conditional instability
D) stasis
Q3) After a cold front passes, the temperature ________ and the pressure ________ (relative to the conditions that existed prior to the passage of the front).
A) increases; increases
B) increases; decreases
C) decreases; increases
D) decreases; decreases
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Chapter 6: Water Resources
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Sample Questions
Q1) On a hot day, a tree can transpire \(\underline {\text { hundreds } }\) of liters of water.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the following would make the best aquifer?
A) uncemented, loosely compacted clay
B) cemented sand that was highly compacted
C) uncemented sand that is loosely compacted
D) cemented gravel that was loosely compacted at the time of cementation
Q3) Of the following regions, which is most vulnerable to water scarcity?
A) South America
B) United States
C) India
D) China
Q4) What percent of New England's water supply is consumed annually?
A) 1%
B) 5%
C) 17%
D) 83%
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Chapter 7: Global Climate Systems
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Sample Questions
Q1) In which climate region does corn, soybean, hog and cattle production dominate?
A) Mediterranean
B) Tropical Monsoon
C) Humid Continental Warm Summer
D) Low-Latitude Hot Steppe
E) Humid Subtropical Hot Summer
Q2) Cold deserts experience more precipitation than warm deserts.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Greenhouse gasses act to increase temperatures by absorbing and releasing
A) shortwave energy travelling from Earth into space.
B) shortwave energy from entering Earth's energy system.
C) longwave energy travelling from Earth into space.
D) longwave energy from entering Earth's energy system.
Q4) The dry season in the tropical monsoon climate occurs when
A) cold air masses dominate the region.
B) the ITCZ is not overhead.
C) the ITCZ is overhead.
D) cold ocean currents shift into the region.
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Chapter 8: The Dynamic Planet
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Sample Questions
Q1) The principles of buoyancy and balance, when applied to Earth's crust, helps us to explain fluctuations in Earth's outer crust, a property known as
A) magnetism.
B) Moho effect.
C) isostasy.
D) orogenesis.
Q2) The mineral crystals in a sill would be ________ those in a lava flow.
A) larger than
B) smaller than
C) the same size as
Q3) Alfred Wegner's theory of continental drift was immediately accepted by the scientific community when it was proposed.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which of the following is an example of an intrusive, igneous rock?
A) volcano
B) pluton
C) dome
D) lava flow
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Chapter 9: Earthquakes and Volcanoes
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is not used to rate an earthquake on the moment magnitude scale?
A) the amount of fault slippage that occurred
B) the size of the subsurface or surface area that ruptured
C) the amount of death and destruction that occurred
D) the nature of the ground materials affected by the quake
Q2) Which of the following represents a surface feature whose relief is opposite that expected based on the fold pattern in the rocks of which it is composed?
A) synclinal valley
B) synclinal ridge
C) inverted anticline
D) synclinal basin
Q3) Pulverized rock and clastic materials ejected violently during an eruption are called A) cinders.
B) explosive debris.
C) tephra, or pyroclastics.
D) volcanic ash.
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Chapter 10: Weathering, Karst Landscapes, and Mass Movement
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Sample Questions
Q1) If you journeyed to the headwaters of the Rio Grande River in New Mexico, you would find that the material in the channel consists of large cobbles and boulders. However, if you then traveled to the mouth of the river as it enters the Gulf of Mexico, you would find that the channel bed material is composed of sand and silt. The process responsible for this type of change in sediment size is
A) solution.
B) abrasion.
C) hydraulic action.
D) suspension.
Q2) All processes that cause the wearing away or rearrangement of landforms are included in the term
A) mass movement.
B) mass wasting.
C) weathering.
D) denudation.
Q3) All karst landscapes go through the same stages of development.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Chapter 11 River Systems and Landforms
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Chapter 12: Wind Processes and Desert Landscapes
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Sample Questions
Q1) The removal and lifting of individual loose particles by the wind is termed
A) deflation.
B) abrasion.
C) saltation.
D) deposition.
Q2) An exotic stream is
A) any river that flows from an arid region to one of adequate precipitation.
B) one involved in a particular historical event.
C) one whose entire course is in a desert region.
D) any river that arises in a humid region and then passes through to an arid region.
Q3) Desert landscapes tend to be ________ in appearance because of the ________.
A) rugged and hard-edged; lack of water erosion
B) rugged and hard edged; type of resistant rock found in deserts
C) rounded and smooth; abrasion
D) rounded and smooth; type of nonresistant rock found in deserts
Q4) Active and stable sand regions occur on every major continent except Antarctica.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 13: The Oceans, Coastal Processes, and Landforms
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is false regarding tides?
A) They are produced solely by the gravitational pull of the Sun.
B) They are complex daily oscillations in sea level.
C) They are influenced by the size, depth, and topography of ocean basins.
D) They are influenced by shoreline configuration and latitude.
Q2) The barrier islands off the Louisiana shore have been growing at fast rates in recent decades.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The coastal environment is also known as the littoral zone.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which of the following is true of worldwide sea level?
A) Over the long term, levels have been very constant.
B) Changes in sea level are usually unrelated to tectonic processes.
C) Changes seem to occur without any relation to global average temperatures.
D) It was about 130 m (430 ft) lower 18,000 B.P., and about 10 cm lower 100 years or so ago.
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Page 14
Chapter 14: Glacial and Penglacial Landscapes
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Holocene epoch-in which we live-is probably an interglacial within an ice age period.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the following is true regarding permafrost?
A) It develops where soil or rock temperatures are below freezing for at least two years.
B) It is an area that is covered by glaciers.
C) The surface layer in a permafrost region never thaws-even during the warm season.
D) It occurs at a lower elevation in the midlatitudes than in the high latitudes.
Q3) If two glaciers with lateral moraines join, a medial moraine is produced.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which of the following does\(\underline { \text { not } }\)consist of stratified glacial deposits?
A) esker
B) drumlin
C) kame
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Chapter 15: The Geography of Soils
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following sets of descriptors is correctly matched with the soil moisture condition indicated?
A) wet - little adherence of particles; capable of being rolled into a thin strand
B) moist - friable; firm
C) dry - loose; soft; hard; extremely hard
D) All of the above are correctly matched.
Q2) Which of the following is false regarding the C horizon?
A) It is equivalent to regolith.
B) It lacks clay concentrations.
C) It is generally made up of carbonates, gypsum, or soluble salts.
D) Although it may be deep, it lies within the realm of significant biological influences.
E) Roots rarely reach this layer.
Q3) Soils characteristic of the northern coniferous forests are the A) Spodosols.
B) Aridisols.
C) Alfisols.
D) Mollisols.
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Chapter 16: Ecosystems and Biomes
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Sample Questions
Q1) Due to the cold conditions and limited vegetation, no large animals live in the tundra environment.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Deep tap roots, waxy leaf coatings, and succulence are all adaptations to A) cold.
B) moisture surpluses.
C) moisture deficits.
D) wind.
Q3) The Arctic National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR)
A) is the only portion of Alaska's Arctic coast not open to oil drilling.
B) contains as much oil as could be saved by a minor improvement in cars' efficiency.
C) would be ruined for centuries for a five-month supply of oil.
D) is home to over 200,000 caribou, polar and grizzly bears, musk oxen, and wolves.
E) all of the above
Q4) The ecology of the biome in which the giant redwoods trees occur is failing.
A)True
B)False
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Page 17
Chapter 17: Earth and the Human Denominator
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Q1) Currently, the average natural increase of human population is about ________ percent.
A) 1.2
B) 1.9
C) 2.3
D) 2.8
Q2) During the 1980s, efforts to develop alternative energy supplies and to increase energy efficiency \(\underline { \text { increased } }\text { substantially }\).
A)True
B)False
Q3) By the end of 2008, Earth's population reached
A) 5.5 billion.
B) 6.7 billion.
C) 7.5 billion.
D) 8.5 billion.
Q4) Most population growth is in less-developed countries.
A)True
B)False
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